Moving along

We have our first permit. (well, our second if you consider the COA from the Historic Commission that we needed to move the fence around the trash bins) It is a demolition permit for the bathrooms and the kitchen. Our Architect (Adam, I mentioned him earlier) got this done on a rush basis so we can start the demo before we leave Milwaukee. Thank you Adam!

Sunrise over Lake Michigan, 13 October, 2025

We had to have a "Certified" asbestos inspector look at the rooms. There was a lot of asbestos used in the old days, and you can see why. Cheap, fireproof, flexible. Also, Charles Manville, (from Johns Manville)  lived right behind (to the east) of our house on Wahl Street. So I would expect they might have gotten a deal. I did not see any asbestos in the areas where we will be working, but you never know. But the inspector took some samples, and will send them off to the lab. We already had the linoleum floor tested, and it came back negative, so we are hopeful that the same thing will happen with the other tests.

The inspector has some ideas. He said he was very familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright, and was "surprised that we didn't have an acoustic ceiling". Huh. He also said that Wright "usually" put some sort of radiant heating in the ceiling, and then blew on asbestos "flocking". News to me, but you never know. I believe that some of the two story Usonian houses used heating in the ceiling/floor to increase utility. But I can tell you this - heating a ceiling is not a great way to heat a room, since hot air rises.

Rainbow a few minutes after sunrise

We are tracking down lots of little bits right now:

Pulls:

Locks:

Wood Types (getting a report from a colleague of our Nephew at the Forest Product Research Lab) so we can make sure our new builds will be the right stuff. (Black Walnut downstairs, American Gum (Sweet or Red) upstairs, most likely)

Bathroom fixtures:

Bits for the fountain:

And more.

I will not lie, Doreen is doing 95% of the work. But I am a key employee.

I will post before we skedaddle from Milwaukee

 

Garage Door

We  have an amazing garage door.

No, I mean really, it is amazing. It is hung from a series of  guides and rollers and it slides along the north wall of the garage. Not exactly like the drawing below (there is just one door, and it slides counter clockwise from the opening on the left of the drawing to line up along the wall at the bottom of the drawing.

You can see in the drawing that it calls out Richard Wilcox hangers. This company is still around (over 145 years!) and these hangers still work flawlessly.

There are four hangers, and they all look like this:

Sorry about the cobwebs. I could not reach them

This is how it works:

Those videos are sort of small, but it is still pretty cool.

Brain work and Landscape Plans

It's been quiet here, but that is because we are working on some final details before we go to the City to get permits.

We need demo permits, electrical permits, plumbing permits, and who knows what else. (well, we know who knows. The Architects and the General Contractor.)

Ah, the GC! We are finalizing the details of the contract, and I hope that we will be able to get that signed next week.

Which means that we will have to start spending real money. (yes, I know. The Air Conditioning was real money)

Once those permits go live, I will update.

But in the meantime, we are also working on the landscaping plan.

Doreen had worked with a Chicago firm named Hoerr Schaudt when she was at Hermann Park. It also turns out that she is distantly related to one of the senior partners, Doug Hoerr. They don't usually work on such small spaces, but they are doing Doreen a favor.

The plan is not finished, but it is not far. It looks something like this:

We've already talked to the neighbors to make sure we won't be encroaching on their properties. 

Its a good plan. We will be incorporating some of the old lintels with the square motifs from the cover over the front door, as well as some "holey boulders" that we found in the yard. 

Some architectural remnants from previous work on the house

Holey Boulders

Playing with some dramatic uplighting.I think it looks nice.